They ate their breakfast and ran to the bus stop in the brisk morning air. They saw Aleea alone at the bus stop.

“Morning Aleea,” greets Drake.

“Hi Drake. Hi Topaz,” she says.

“Hello,” says Topaz. “How are you?”

“Fine. I told my mom about how you came to help me when you didn’t even know me,” Aleea tells them. “She said I found a true friend in one day.” Drake turns cherry red. “I didn’t tell her you were a dragon, though.”

“I didn’t tell my mom either,” said Drake.

Cryst walks over to them, with the rest of the kids trailing behind. “Hey Drake, Aleea, Topaz,” he says.

“Hey.”

The bus pulls up and they get in. Aleea and Drake sat together with Cryst in the seat across the aisle. “Hey Aleea, where did you come from?” Drake asked her.

“North Dakota.”

“Me too! I moved along time though,” he says.

“Sweet.”

“I know you guys think its cool you are from the same state and all, but we’re at school now, so we better beat the rush to get off,” Cryst says.

Aleea went to the office when they got inside. Drake followed her. “Are you Aleea Arrow?” the secretary asks.

“Yes I am. Can I have my schedule please?”

“Sure. Just let me print it off.” Drake hears the whir of the printer. “And here you go.”

“Can I see your schedule?” Drake asked Aleea, causing her to jump.

“Huh? Drake, you scared me! Oh, yeah you can see my schedule.”

“Thanks. Hey that’s cool!”

“What?”

“We have all the same classes!”

“Yeah that is cool! Now we don’t have to memorize each others schedules.”

“Why would we have to memorize each others schedules?”

“I’ll shut up now.”

“Yeah, you do that.” She raises her hand. “I’m joking. I’m not that mean. Come on, we have math first.”

“Do you want to come to the park with me and Topaz, Aleea?” Drake asked her after school.

“Sure. I got to drop my stuff off at my house first. Want to come with?”

“Sure, why not.”

After a while of walking, they got to her house. “Come on in!” Aleea said. They walked into the kitchen to see her mom.

“Who’s this?” her mom asked.

“This is Drake. He is the boy who saved me.”

Of all the things he could have said hi sheepishly.

“Him! Girl you sure know how to reel ‘em in!” Aleea turns maroon. She looks at Drake. She knew he was uncomfortable. “Thank you for everything you’ve done,” Aleea’s mom went on. “I sure hope you didn’t get hurt.”

“By the man, no. By Aleea, yes,” Drake says. “She kicked me in the sn-nose. I admit it hurt.”

Aleea’s mom laughs.

“We were going to go to the park and play with his pet. Bye mom.”

“I saw you were more embarrassed than I was. It was actually funny looking at you with you looking like that,” said Aleea. Drake smiles.

Topaz pops out of Drake’s pocket and mimics, “Girl, you sure know how to reel them in!” They laugh.

“Can you take me flying?” Aleea asks out of the blue.

“Um…I can try,” Drake said uncertainly. Drake didn’t think he would morph, since it wasn’t dark, but surprisingly he did. Topaz crawls into Aleea’s pocket. After drake was fully morphed, he knelt down, considering he was taller than usual. Aleea climbed on Drake’s back and hung on to one of his spikes. He got a running start and launched up into the air. Aleea’s hair was whipping across her face. She was having the best day of her life.

When they landed and Drake morphed back to normal, they walked around the park a little, and Aleea headed home.

Topaz said, “She’s nice.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, why did you talk to Aleea?” Drake asks.

“Dragon instinct. It tells good people from bad people. It’s just like you are a good person.”